


Reparations

by Baconfat



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Blood, Blood and Injury, Gen, a hint of Ignoct
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-01 22:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16774618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baconfat/pseuds/Baconfat
Summary: "Need a Potion over here," Noct called out.Gladio grunted, dusting off the last daemon. "I'm out," he said, making his way over."Me too," Prompto said nervously."Ignis?" Noct asked.Ignis straightened up, finally, not looking at him. Took one careful step and crumpled to the ground again.





	1. Chapter 1

Noct didn't even know what happened. 

The tower turned out not to be a tower at all. It was a maze, taking them deeper and deeper underground, with a million dead ends and no way back. But they fought their way through it, one daemon at a time, watching each others' backs, using so many Potions they were never gonna get the taste out of their mouths or the buzz out of their blood. Found their way to the monster in the deepest part of the dungeon and fought that too, winning back one of the royal arms. 

"That's _it?!_ " Prompto demanded. _"That's_ the treasure?!"

Now they were on their way out, hungry and exhausted and still fighting, so close to the entrance Noct could almost feel the breeze. He didn't say so, in case he was wrong. Just looked back, to make sure Prompto was still with them, and got blindsided by a daemon with a rusty scythe. Just saw the shadow of the blade coming at him in the corner of his eye.

 _"Noct!"_ Ignis yelled.

The next thing he knew he was in a heap on the floor on the wrong side of the room and Ignis was pouring an Elixir down his throat while Gladio ripped the daemon apart and Prompto shot the pieces until they stopped twitching.

"Now, now," Ignis was saying, checking his wounds and helping him up. "This is no time for a nap."

"Right," Noct said, getting to his feet, waving the others off when they came to check on him. Needed to keep moving while the Elixir was still giving him a second wind. He stumbled down the next hall, and _finally_. There were the stairs.

And here were the daemons. Noct took a breath, summoned his sword and got to work, trying to cut a path and keep his eyes on the exit. Almost there. He cut a couple daemons down, blocked a swipe, slammed his sword right through some ugly-ass skeleton's ribcage.

Gladio was yelling. "Iggy!" And there was enough panic in his tone that Noct warped his way over without thinking about it. 

Ignis had finished off the daemon he was fighting, but he'd fallen to one knee, clutching his spear to keep himself up. 

"You okay, Specky?" Noct asked, trying to get a look at him, but he was all hunched up.

"Quite... careless of me," Ignis managed, dragging himself to his feet and definitely not answering the question. He dismissed his spear and stood, sort of. Bent over with his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. 

Noct reached into his pocket for a Potion and didn't find any. Right, he'd used his last one on Prompto a few rooms ago. "Need a Potion over here," he called out.

Gladio grunted, dusting off the last daemon. "I'm out," he said, making his way over.

"Me too," Prompto said nervously. 

"Ignis?" Noct asked.

Ignis straightened up, finally, not looking at him. Took one careful step and crumpled to the ground again. 

"Ignis!" Noct snapped.

Ignis had his eyes shut and his hands pressed to a spot on his leg. There was blood spilling out between his fingers, soaking his gloves. A lot of it. 

There was something cold crawling up Noct's throat. "What — what's happening, Ignis?"

"This looks bad," Prompto said, small and scared enough to snap Noct out of it. 

He started digging through Ignis's pockets, searching for Potions. Bandages. _Anything._ "Where're your curatives?"

"Just... used my last one," Ignis said. _On you_ , he didn't say. 

_"Shit,"_ Gladio growled, pulling his belt off and crouching down, shoving Noct out of the way. He wrapped the belt around Ignis's leg, pulling it tight. Really tight. 

"Goodness," Ignis said, like he was looking at a rare species of mushroom and not at the puddle of blood pooling under him. "Must have... nicked an artery."

"He needs help," Gladio growled, getting his arms under Ignis and lifting him up. Ignis gasped out a breath. " _Now_ , Noct. _GO!"_

Noct started running, up the stairs with Gladio behind him, and finally, finally they were out. Fresh air and a cool night, and more daemons between them and the car. 

"Don't fight," Gladio yelled. "Just go!" 

They ran, harder and more panicked than that first time they were lost in the dark and an Iron Giant rose out of the ground right in front of them.

"I'll drive," Gladio snapped, as soon as they hit the car. Noct jumped in the back and Gladio pretty much threw Ignis at him. "Keep pressure on the wound." He dug the keys out of Ignis's pocket before climbing into the driver's seat. "And whatever you can do with those powers of yours, for fuck's sake do it now." 

R-right. Noct put pressure on, closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, do that thing he did to turn energy drinks into healing items. "Prompto! What've we got in the trunk?"

"I-I don't know!" Prompto stammered, twisting around in the passenger seat, desperately digging through the supplies on the floor. "Ignis always packs it up!" 

Gladio hit the gas, setting the tires squealing. 

"I — I found an Ebony?" Prompto offered.

"Give it," Nocts said, trying to keep pressure on Ignis's leg with one hand while wrapping the other around the Ebony, concentrating on his power, trying to remember what his dad taught him about this. 

Prompto wiggled between the front seats to put pressure on for him, both hands on Ignis's leg, leaning hard. 

"Highness," Ignis breathed out.

Noct ignored him, focusing. There wasn't that much to work with in the Ebony — caffeine, yeah, but not much else. He did what he could with it, then cracked it open. His hands were trembling. "Drink."

Ignis did, but he kept fading. He coughed a little and some of it spilled.

"Come _on_ , Ignis," Noct told him. Gladio took a hard turn and Prompto lost his balance, lost his grip. Blood welled up from the wound and Noct scrambled to — to try and keep it in, but his hands were shaking so hard.

"Highness," Ignis said again, so weak Noct had to lean in, put his ear at Iggy's mouth. "Spare keys... with Cindy. In Hammerhead."

Wh-what? "We don't — need keys, Ignis. Hurry _up_ , Gladio!"

Ignis's breathing had gone shallow. "Make sure... to turn off the propane."

"What — what the hell are you talking about?"

Ignis shut his eyes, concentrating. "Camp stove."

"Everybody hang on," Gladio said, and Noct looked up to see a Red Giant looming over the road. Gladio jerked the wheel and they were suddenly off the asphalt and onto the grass, rocks rattling against the undercarriage and branches slapping the windshield. Noct glimpsed the red eyes of a Goblin right before it hit the windshield and went flying, leaving a splatter and smear of black blood on the glass.

Prompto had his eyes squeezed shut and was saying something quiet and scared. Noct couldn't tell if he was praying or swearing. Another jerk of the wheel and they were back on the road, the Giant roaring behind them.

"Noct," Ignis said.

"Just — hang on, Ignis. Save your breath."

"There's a letter." A short shallow breath. "From your father." Another. "On the occasion... of your wedding."

"What?"

"With the documents... in the trunk. Behind the spare tire."

Noct's eyes were stinging. "No," he said.

"I had hoped... to write a few words. Never... quite finished." He closed his eyes, fading out and back in. "Back of my notebook."

"Stop," Noct choked out.

"It has been... an honour. And a pleasure. To —"

"Shut _UP_ , Ignis! Shut up!" 

He did.

Stopped struggling to talk and stopped looking up at Noct, his eyes sliding shut and his breaths getting shorter.

No, no, no, no no _no_

"Gladio," Noct begged.

Gladio turned the wheel and hit the brakes, and they skidded in to the rest area at Longwythe. Prompto was out of the car before it stopped moving, into the shop and back out again with an armful of every energy drink he could carry and the cashier yelling at him. 

He dumped them in a pile in the footwell and Noct shut his eyes, reached for his power, and poured everything he had left into them while Prompto cracked them open and poured them out, on the wound and down Ignis's throat. 

He was still breathing, and soon enough the bleeding slowed but his pulse wasn't getting any stronger. 

"Let's move him to a room," Gladio said, and they carried him together, Prompto hurrying ahead to get the door. 

They laid him down and ripped his pants off, checking the wound. Hard to see under all the blood, but it was a long, wide gash across his leg. Or it had been, anyway. "Looks closed," Noct said.

"He's lost too much blood," Gladio said. "We need something stronger than an Elixir."

"I'm _working_ on it," Noct growled, and went back to digging through the pile of drinks. Maybe if he mixed a few things together, one of these Extreem Energy Hits and one of those gross vitamin waters, if he could just sit down and take his time —

"What do we do?" Prompto asked.

"Just — get out," Noct told him. "I need to concentrate, okay?"

Gladio grunted. Stepped up to the bed to look down at Ignis for a long second.

Noct had to look away.

"Alright," Gladio said finally. "Get to work." He'd taken Iggy's glasses off, put them on the bedside table. "You need anything, just call."

They left, and left Noct alone. 

—

He drank one of the Elixirs himself, trying to catch his breath, get his hands to stop shaking. Then mixed some stuff into the empty bottle, sat down on the bed and held the drink in his hands, shut his eyes and asked his dad for help.

Eventually something started to happen. The bottle got warm in hands, and then cold. He noticed a faint blue glow spilling out between his fingers, barely visible in the dim light of the dingy hotel room. 

He focused on that, trying to coax a little more glow out of it. When it was bright enough to compete with a candle, maybe, he poured it down Iggy's throat, slow and careful, a few sips at a time. 

Then he sat back down, drank another Elixir, and did it all over again. 

—

He had a hand at the back of Ignis's head, holding him up while the drink trickled into his mouth, when Ignis's eyelids fluttered, then opened.

Noct's stomach clenched.

Finally they focused on him.

"Hi," Noct managed.

Ignis wet his lips. "Highness," he said, and the knot in Noct's throat loosened up a little. "You're safe."

Noct laughed, weakly. "Yeah. Drink up."

Ignis did, his eyes shut and his throat moving. He still looked so pale. When he'd finished it, he stared up at the ceiling for a second before saying, "An... unusual mix of flavours."

Noct snorted out a laugh. "You said the same thing that one time I tried to make you a birthday cake."

Ignis smiled, slow and shaky. "It was a fine first effort."

"It was a soup," Noct told him. "A burnt chocolate soup."

That got a weak grin, until he glanced around the room and saw the empty bottles and cans all over the place. It looked like they'd had a party while he was out. 

"How're you feeling?"

Ignis took a breath. "More embarrassed than anything, to be quite honest."

Embarrassed. He was _embarrassed_. Noct thought about yelling at him. About getting up and walking out and slamming the door. Instead he got up and started mixing another drink. Capped it and shook it and sat back down to work on it.

Ignis cleared his throat. "I... do apologize for the trouble."

Noct ignored him. When he finally felt like he could say something without losing his cool, he looked over to see that Ignis was out cold again.

Good. He shut his eyes and tried to concentrate. 

Didn't know how much later it was that Ignis asked, "Are you alright?"

Noct lost his focus, let out a breath. The glow inside the bottle dimmed a little. "Fine," he said. "Do you need anything?"

Ignis looked — concerned. Of course. "Only rest, I'm sure."

"Then rest," Noct told him. "Just let me finish this."

Ignis tried to sit up. "Is someone else hurt?"

Noct pushed him back down. "No, Ignis." He held the bottle up. "I need you to drink this, but it's not done yet."

"Noct. You're exhausted."

"And you're hurt," Noct told him. "I'm trying to help."

"I'm _fine_."

"No, you're not!" Noct snapped. "Just _shut up!_ "

Ignis flinched.

The door burst open and Gladio and Prompto came running in. God _damn_ it. "Iggy!!"

Ignis jerked at the blankets, trying to cover himself, but Noct was sitting on them and didn't give a shit.

"Scared the hella outta me," Gladio said, grinning, ruffling Noct's hair on the way past.

"You okay, buddy?" Prompto asked, crowding into the bed. "You need anything?"

"GUYS!" Noct yelled. "I'm not done!" 

All three of them stared at him.

After a second, Ignis said. "All I need is rest, Prompto, but thank you."

Gladio huffed out a breath. "You got it," he muttered, and herded Prompto out.

Noct's hands were shaking again, his eyes burning. He wiped at them and got back to work.

When it was done, finally, the glow was bright enough to read by. It'd have to be good enough. He stood up, and the room went dim, his knees going weak. 

"Noct," Ignis said sharply, from far away.

Noct held on to the headboard for a minute until it passed, vaguely aware Ignis was talking to him. Noct ignored it, made him drink the potion. Every drop. 

Then shrugged out of his jacket — he was so cold, all of a sudden, but he was sweating — and crawled under the covers. Ignis was warm, maybe from the drink, so Noct got as close as he could before he fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Ignis woke up warm and groggy and rather disoriented. His memories of the previous night's events were... incomplete, to say the least. The motel room had the distinctive, dreary decor of a Three Z's Motel, coated with a fine layer of pale Leiden dust. A glance out the window showed him a warm early morning sky and rusted yellow pipelines leading off towards Balouve Mines. There was another bed in the room that had clearly not been slept in. Prompto and Gladio had either stayed out all night or spent the night elsewhere.

The prince was asleep, and, as far as Ignis could tell, safe and sound. His hair was tickling Ignis's chin and he had one arm thrown across Ignis's chest. There was a deep, unpleasant ache in Ignis's left leg, centred on his upper thigh and radiating through the rest of him, but it was the dull pain of a healing wound rather than the sharp burn of a fresh one. 

He vaguely remembered a large, skeletal sort of daemon with an even larger sword, and the sense that he'd been careless. A brief but costly error in judgment, attacking when he should have parried, and here he was. Here they all were. 

It could have happened to any of them, he knew, but Ignis expected better of himself.

He recalled very little about how they'd arrived here, only the dark but distinct memory of Noct looking down at him in distress, his face swimming in and out of focus. And then the sight of his prince, mouth tight and hands clasped around an energy drink, fiercely focused, turning the power of kings to the task of making curatives. A great many of them, purer and more potent than any he'd made before. 

Under other circumstances, Ignis would have been honoured to witness such a thing. A holy ritual, the purification and blessing of potables to amplify their natural properties, passed down through the line of Lucian kings for two thousand years.

Under these circumstances, he felt wretched. Noct had exhausted himself and expended his power to save a mere servant. A useful one, certainly, but a servant nonetheless. One who had attacked when he should have parried. 

Ignis had never forgotten the first time Noctis had done such a thing, bringing him a glass of chocolate milk after a minor training injury and insisting that he drink it, without mentioning the blessing. Ignis had felt immediately and astonishingly rejuvenated, until he realized what he'd done. The prince had wasted a priceless, precious gift on him.

All his life, Ignis had watched King Regis slowly sacrifice himself for his subjects, knowing that someday Noct would do the same. But there was a sharp difference between the king's protection - a blessing given freely to every citizen of the Crown City — and the acute intimacy of Noct's potions, a piece of his power — of his life — bottled and shared.

It was impossible to repay such a debt.

The best Ignis could do was carry on as he had. To begin with, he needed to get breakfast, do the laundry, clean up the room and attempt to replenish their supply of curatives. Or, at the very least, of the base materials for curatives. It had taken weeks to build up their store, with Noct working on one or two potions at a time between naps in the Regalia. Months, and they'd used up their entire stock in one very long day, leaving a trail of empty bottles and cans scattered through the ruins and around the motel room.

Well. Ignis had a plan of action, at least, but no way to act on it without waking the prince, who dearly needed rest. So he closed his eyes again, drifting.

—— 

He dozed for some time before the door opened and Gladio stuck his head in. "Hey," he said, and then paused to take in the scene, before very clearly choosing not to comment. "We're gonna grab breakfast. You need anything?"

Ignis glanced down at the pile of black fabric on the floor that he suspected had once been his trousers. "A clean set of clothes would be much appreciated."

Gladio nodded and disappeared. He returned momentarily with Ignis's bag, stomping his way into the room with utter disregard for the sleeping prince. "Think you can get up?"

Ignis was quite certain he could, if Noct were not sleeping on him. "I'll manage," he said, attempting to set an example by keeping his voice low.

"You might wanna clean up before you eat," Gladio said. "Definitely wanna clean up before you leave the room."

"Sound advice for any situation," Ignis said pointedly.

Gladio grinned. "Glad you're feeling better." He paused. "Seriously, you look like a crime scene."

"Thank you, Gladio," Ignis said, waving him out. Noct was stirring.

Ignis hoped he might go back to sleep, but instead he opened his eyes to give Ignis a bleary look.

"Good morning, Highness," Ignis said softly.

Noct grimaced and sat up, unimpressed and generally unhappy with the waking world. He sullenly dragged the covers off to examine Ignis's injury. Ignis fumbled for his spectacles, pulling them on and finally getting a look at it himself. An angry red gash that would certainly scar, but it seemed to be healing well, with no obvious sign of infection. 

Some blood had soaked into the sheets and covers - they would certainly have to forfeit the deposit on the room - but it hardly seemed enough to justify Gladio's warnings. 

Noct stood up, dragging himself out from under the sheets, and sudden fear clutched at Ignis's throat. His Highness's Crownsguard fatigues were caked with blood. "Were you injured, Noct?"

Noct looked at him, then down at himself. Shook his head, wearily, and rubbed at his eyes before digging in Ignis's bag for a clean set of clothes. "You should clean up," he said, voice rough with sleep. "You need help?"

Certainly not. Ignis sat up and put his feet on the floor, testing his leg carefully before putting his weight on it. Noct was watching him warily, staying close at hand. The leg protested but held, and Ignis made his way to the bathroom with embarrassing effort and with Noct hovering close by. 

Noct put Ignis's clean, folded clothes on the sink, and then stood awkwardly in the doorway. "You sure you don't need help?"

"Positive," Ignis said, perhaps too quickly. 

Noct's mouth tightened. "If you fall I'm telling Gladio."

An effective threat. Ignis could easily imagine the lecture — for both of them — as well as the manhandling that would ensue. "I won't," he said firmly.

Noct left, leaving the door partly open.

It wasn't until Ignis moved to pull his gloves off that he noticed they were stiff with dried blood.

—— 

When Ignis came out again, clean and dressed and feeling considerably more confident, Noct was curled up on the other bed, but not asleep. He got up without a word, took his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom. 

Ignis sat down on the edge of the bed to catch his breath and give his legs a brief rest. He was _still_ sitting when the others arrived with breakfast. 

"Iggy!" Prompto exclaimed. "Look at you, all clean and conscious and everything! Great job!" 

He was being sincere. Overnight, their expectations of him had gone from _competent_ to _conscious._ "Yes, well. I try."

"Looking good," Gladio said contentedly, giving Ignis's shoulder a squeeze before handing him a takeout bag from the Crow's Nest that smelled of eggs, grease and cheese. Ignis was abruptly famished. "How's Noct?"

"He's exhausted himself entirely," Ignis said, well aware of the note of reproach in his voice.

"Man, I bet," Prompto said, his mouth already full of Kenny's Early Bird Breakfast Biscuitwich. "We need to throw him a Thanks For Saving Iggy's Ass party or something."

Gladio nodded, thoughtfully. "It _is_ a pretty nice ass."

"I'm glad you find this funny," Ignis snapped, while Prompto quietly choked on his sandwich. 

Gladio shrugged, taking a sizable bite of breakfast. "Ease up, Iggy. We spent the whole night worried you wouldn't make it."

"Yeah," Prompto said shakily.

Before Ignis could respond to that, Noct came out of the bathroom in clean clothes, his hair damp and his eyes shadowed. 

"There he is," Gladio said, getting up to give him an affectionate shake. "You did it, champ."

Noct allowed it, his mouth briefly pulling up, before he shrugged Gladio off, sat down on the bed and inhaled two entire breakfast sandwiches in what seemed a matter of seconds. It was a small miracle he didn't choke. 

That done, he crawled back into the bed, curling up at Ignis's side and closing his eyes. Ignis resisted the inexplicable and frankly inappropriate urge to lay a hand on his back. Instead, he started on his own breakfast, doing his best to keep from getting crumbs on the bedspread. "What's our status?"

Gladio and Prompto exchanged a glance. "Well," Prompto began, "the good news is, everybody's alive, way to go team, and three out of four of us have _most_ of our blood still inside our bodies." Gladio shot him a glare. "Oh! And! We got another shiny sword!"

Ignis shut his eyes, sensing an oncoming headache. "And the bad news?"

"We're broke," Gladio said frankly. 

"Again?" Noct muttered into the blankets.

"Impossible," Ignis argued.

"We spent three thousand gil on energy drinks last night," Gladio said. 

"I beg your pardon?" Ignis asked.

"Plus, Prompto and I had to get a room so you and His Highness could cuddle."

"Gladio," Ignis snapped, when Noct said nothing.

Gladio gave a grudgingly apologetic shrug. "Plus the car needs some work. We either call for a tow or try driving her to Hammerhead, but..."

"Yeah." Prompto said, swallowing. "The back seat is a little..." He grimaced, gesturing unhelpfully.

"Surely we can put some towels down," Ignis argued.

Noct spoke up. "Tow her. We'll catch a ride back with Cindy."

"And pay her how?" Gladio asked.

No answer.

Ignis took a breath, pulling his spectacles off to clean them. "I'm afraid I've caused a great deal of unnecessary fuss. Not to mention expense."

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Noct demanded.

He was angry. Understandably.

Ignis swallowed. "An apology, at this point, seems rather inadequate." He slid the spectacles back on to look down at Noct. 

Noct turned away from him.

The others stared for a long moment, eyebrows up. Finally Gladio shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "Just don't let it happen again," he said.

"And remember," Prompto added. "Your blood should stay _inside_ your body. _Inside_."

"Thank you, Prompto, I'll bear that in mind." He had let them down. Had let Noct down. And there was nothing for it but to do his best to mitigate the damages. He drew a breath and turned his attention to what he could. "We're at the rest stop in Longwythe, are we not? There must be hunts posted at the Crow's Nest."

Gladio scratched at his chin. "Guess Prompto and I could take on a few."

"No way," Noct cut in, still angry. "Nobody's going anywhere until we stock up on potions."

"I, uh, I'm with Noct on this one," Prompto piped up. "Maybe we could sell some of the treasure we picked up in the tower?"

"To who?" Gladio asked. "Kenny the Crow? We're in the middle of nowhere."

Prompto sighed. "I bet Cindy would love that sparkly bracelet I found." 

"The one you cut off a corpse?" Gladio asked.

"I didn't cut it!" Prompto insisted. "I just... gently separated the... bones. From the other bones."

"And then screamed when the whole thing fell apart."

"It moved, okay? I swear it looked at me!"

Ignis cleared his throat. Loudly. "I think Cindy has made it quite clear, on several occasions, that the only payment she's interested in is legal tender. I'll check in with the front desk and find out where the nearest trading post is."

"How about I do that and you take it easy," Gladio suggested.

Ignis looked at him. "Very well. I'll take care of the laundry, then."

"I'll do that!" Prompto offered, jumping up to start gathering the dirty clothes. 

Fine. "The Crownsguard leather is largely stain resistant, but for everything else that's bloodstained, a twenty to thirty minute soak in white vinegar should do the trick."

"Got it," Prompto said. 

" _White_ vinegar," Ignis specified. "Do _not_ use the balsamic. _Or_ the rice vinegar."

"Check," Prompto said, his arms full. "Uh, where's the white vinegar?"

"In the trunk, behind the cooler, next to the chairs."

"Right," Prompto said. 

"Don't forget my socks," Gladio told him.

"Don't we usually just burn those?" Prompto asked, heading out.

"Use the cold water cycle!" Ignis called.


	3. Chapter 3

Gladio left them with clear instructions to rest and vague threats about the consequences should they fail to do so. Ignis gave him seven minutes — enough to cross the parking lot, enter the Crow's Nest, and get caught up in conversation with the locals — before going out to retrieve the map and the sewing kit from the Regalia. Noct followed him at a shuffle.

The walk across the parking lot felt rather long, and the morning's meager activities had been oddly exhausting. Ignis found himself slightly short of breath. 

He was trying to remember whether this area of Leide was at an increased altitude when he found the Regalia. And stopped to stare. Her windshield was cracked and splattered with ichor. The finish on the front fender was scratched and pocked, and there was something unrecognizable caught in the grill. Possibly a limb. Hopefully daemonic.

"I see you let Gladio take a turn behind the wheel," Ignis said, when he could speak.

Noct crossed his arms, not looking at it. "Yeah, well. I was busy."

The back seat and footwells were full of empty bottles and —

"Is that... blood?" Ignis asked, inanely.

"Uh huh," Noct said, glaring down at the pavement.

"Rather a lot of it," Ignis remarked. Really quite a staggering amount, caked on the seats and smeared inside the doors, soaked into the mats and pooled in the footwells.

No wonder Noct couldn't look. The sight of His Majesty's car in that state was intolerable.

It was possible that Ignis's injury had been... significant. Perhaps even enough to warrant the sense of urgency he'd had, lying in the back seat and looking up at Noct from what felt like a great distance. The sudden need to say a great many things that had been left unsaid, very few of which he could remember now, thankfully.

"I'm calling the garage," Noct said abruptly, pulling out his phone.

"I'm not sure that's entirely necessary," Ignis tried. "The damage does seem to be largely cosmetic. If we —"

Noct turned away from him, speaking into the phone. "Yeah, I need a tow. What? No, he — I wasn't the one driving this time!" He paused. Ignis could just make out the distinctive sound of Cid swearing at them. "What _ever_. Just send a truck. ...Uh huh. Yeah. Thanks." He ended the call. "Cindy's coming in a couple hours."

"Of course," Ignis allowed. "Probably best to leave it to the professionals." The _paid_ professionals. "Were you planning to rob the Crow's Nest, perhaps?"

Noct rolled his eyes. "We'll figure something out. Are you done?"

Ignis blinked, remembering, and grabbed the keys. Or tried to — they were not in their usual pocket. Or any of the others, for that matter. 

Noct watched him pat himself down for several seconds before speaking up. "Gladio's probably got them." He nodded past Ignis's shoulder. "There he is."

Gladio spotted them from across the lot and briefly threw his arms out in incredulous disapproval before trotting his way over. "This your idea of rest?"

"I simply came for the sewing kit. You have the keys?"

Gladio gave him a flat look before pulling the keys out and pointedly passing them to the prince. Noct looked at them for a long moment before asking, "Where's the sewing kit?"

"In the glove box," Ignis answered.

"You know," Gladio said, "the harder you push yourself, the longer it'll take you to get back to one hundred percent."

"Considering the number of curatives I've just consumed," Ignis told him, "I would consider 'one hundred percent' to be profoundly inadequate."

Gladio rolled his eyes, and then glared when Noct handed over the sewing kit. "You're gonna let him do this?"

"At least he'll sit down," Noct said.

"Cindy is on her way here," Ignis cut in, before they could continue this absurd argument. "What have you learned?"

Gladio grunted. "Nothin' helpful, but there's a low level hunt I'm pretty sure I can take on that'll —"

"No," Noct cut in.

"If you got a better idea," Gladio growled, "I'm all ears. If not, then how about you —" 

"How about I _what?_ " Noct snapped.

Gladio blinked, taken aback. "Take a load off," he finished, "and let me worry about it. The hell's going on with you?"

Noct looked away, shoulders hunching. He was obviously exhausted, understandably frustrated, and furious about his father's car. "Just... _tired_ ," he said, and that was all.

Gladio crossed his arms, looking Noct over as if trying to find a flaw in his form. 

Ignis spoke up. "You should rest, Your Highness."

"So should you," Noct said irritably. Ignis opened his mouth. "And _don't_ try to tell me you're fine. Just — save it."

Ignis closed his mouth, not sure what Noct wanted to hear. He'd already attempted an apology, and that had been rather poorly received. He looked at Gladio, who was frowning unhelpfully, and over towards the motel. Prompto was wandering across the parking lot in their general direction, taking the scenic route and pausing occasionally for a photograph.

He was still some distance away when a familiar truck pulled in at the Crow's Nest and an astonishingly ugly dog jumped out, scampering over to Noct's feet.

Noct crouched to scratch its ears, and the dog flopped over on its back, shamelessly offering its belly up for a rub. "Hey, buddy. Nice to see you, too."

Dave climbed out of the truck and made his way over, grinning wearily. "Careful, now, or he'll keep you there all day."

"I'm okay with that," Noct said easily. 

Gladio snorted. "Some guard dog you got there, Dave."

Dave gave a shrug. "He knows good people when he sees 'em," he said, and then paused, taking them in. "Everything alright? You fellas look like you been through the wringer."

"We had a rather... unfortunate encounter with some daemons," Ignis explained.

Dave frowned, and then noticed the condition of the car behind them. His eyes went wide. "Oh," he said, desolate. "Oh, no. Your little friend with the freckles."

"Huh?" Gladio grunted.

"I'm sorry, fellas. He was one of the good ones."

Noct snorted, straightening up and leaving the dog looking woeful. "Prompto's fine. He's right over there."

Indeed he was, crouched down in front of the Crow's Nest, taking a photograph of an overturned rubbish bin.

"Prompto!" Noct called. 

Prompto jumped up and jogged over, waving. "Hey Dave, what's up?"

"I'm glad you're alright, kiddo," Dave said somberly.

"Uh, thanks?" Prompto replied. He smelled distinctly of vinegar, but at least it was _white_ vinegar. Perhaps Ignis should have specified that it was best to soak the clothes _after_ removing them. "Are... _you_ alright?"

"Can't complain," Dave said, giving Prompto's shoulder a friendly shake before turning back to the others. "Well then what in the hell happened in your back seat?"

"An injury," Ignis said, before the others could launch into a dramatic re-enactment. "Do you know of a trading post in the area? We've a few items to sell, and we're rather short on funds."

"Car's busted," Gladio grunted helpfully.

"I can see that," Dave said, the very soul of earnest understatement. "As it happens, I'm just on my way back to HQ with a load of materials. I can take a look at whatever you got. Give you a fair price, too, since you done me a few good turns."

"Sweet!" Prompto enthused.

"Kind of you," Ignis acknowledged. "Noct, do you mind retrieving that — spur we salvaged?"

Noct did not, as hoped, discreetly return to their room. Instead he reached into the armiger without a word and pulled the huge, twisted horn out of thin air.

Dave took a step back, startled. And looked to the rest of them as if to confirm that they'd seen it too.

Ignis sighed. "Thank you, Noct."

Dave recovered admirably, leaning in to examine the item. "Where in the world did you fellas find this?"

Gladio spoke up. "On the head of something real big and real bad."

"In the depths of Costlemark Tower," Ignis clarified. "Or its ruins, at least."

Dave took that in. "You're tellin' me you fellas took on the fiend of the Fallgrove?"

"Assuming that's the creature this came from, yes." A thought occurred to him. "Was there a bounty on it?"

"Sure was," Dave said. He seemed faintly shell-shocked. "Well. I'd be happy to buy that thing from you — I bet Culless can do some fine work with it — and I may as well pay your bounty while we're at it."

Prompto pumped his fists, and Noct rather rudely handed over the horn, nearly knocking Dave off balance. With some effort, and Gladio's help, he loaded it into the bed of his truck. 

Then turned around, pulled out a roll of bank notes, and started counting. He kept counting, for some time, before finally handing Noct a thick stack of gil. 

"Whoa," Noct said, holding it out of Prompto's reach while he flipped through.

"Don't spend it all in one place," Dave grinned. "Now, normally we won't pay out bounties for takin' on hunts beyond your rank, but since there's four of you, we'll let it slide this time."

"Trust me," Gladio said, "we learned our lesson."

Ignis had his doubts about that, but thanked Dave profusely just the same.

Dave took one last look at them. "You boys take care of yourselves, now. I'll never forgive myself if one these days it's your tags I'm after."

Noct grit his teeth. "That's not gonna happen."

"Yeah!" Prompto agreed. "We don't even have dog tags!"

Dave frowned. "I can have some made up for you."

"No way," said Noct.

"Aw," said Prompto. 

Dave gave a sharp whistle and headed into the Crow's Nest with his dog trotting after him, leaving the four of them huddled over the money. 

"How come we can't have dog tags?" Prompto complained.

"Identification would be a distinct _dis_ advantage were any of us to be captured by the Empire," Ignis reminded him.

"We could use code names!" Prompto argued. "I could be _Silver Lightning_ , and Noct could be _Shadow Knight_ ," he said, posing. And hopefully referencing one of their video games. "And Gladio could be, uhhhh, Swordy McEagleback. And _you_ could be... Specs... Johnson."

"Pardon me?" Ignis asked. 

"Let it go, Prompto," Noct warned. 

They split the money between them, counting out enough for Cindy and giving Gladio a portion to pay for the room. They used a significant amount to replenish their supply of curatives, and still had some left over. 

When Cindy finally pulled in to the parking lot, the trunk was full, their clothes were clean, and the Regalia still resembled some sort of elegant but grotesque mobile abbatoir. 

She greeted them as cheerfully as ever, climbing out of her truck. Took one look at the car, and put her hand over her mouth, horrified. "What happened, y'all?"

"Oh, you know," Prompto laughed, nervously.

"Daemons," Gladio grunted.

"Off-roading," Prompto added.

"Massive blood loss," Gladio said.

"Same old, same old!" Prompto finished.

She looked faintly ill. "You boys must have about a million lucky stars lookin' out for you."

"Sure doesn't feel that way," Noct muttered. 

"And good thing, too," Cindy went on, "or me an' Paw-Paw'd be worried sick!"

Ignis quietly asked her if they would have to tear out the upholstery. 

Cindy bit her lip, looking it over. "Hopefully it won't come to that. All that fine leather, it'd be an awful shame. Might never get all them cracks and crevices clean, but we'll do our best!"

Ignis felt extraordinarily grateful, even as he winced. The cost of labour would be astronomical.

They four of them stood aside while Cindy wiped down the steering wheel and finally moved the car.

"Did you hear that?" Prompto asked, in a stage whisper that was quite possibly louder than his usual tone of voice. "She _worries_ about us!"

"Yeah," Noct said. "Worries about what we're doing to the car."

Gladio snorted. "You ever get the feeling she likes the Regalia more than she likes us?"

Ignis pushed his glasses up, watching closely as she maneuvered the car onto the ramp with ease. "I'd say that's less of a feeling and more of a fact."

"Can you blame her?" Noct asked.

"Not at all," Ignis agreed. "The Regalia is elegant, sophisticated, reliable, aesthetically pleasing, and perennially well-behaved. Unlike you lot."

Noct let out a laugh.

With the car loaded onto the truck, Prompto scrambled into the passenger side of the cab while the rest of them took the back seat. Climbing into the truck took more effort than Ignis would care to admit. 

He sat in the middle, with Gladio on one side, making lively conversation with Cindy, and Noct on the other, nodding off on Ignis's shoulder. Before long, Ignis was drowsing as well.


End file.
